Saturday, June 19, 2010

Remember the good old days when we drank Coca Cola out of returnable bottles and the world hated us because of George Bush?

Apparently, the world now sees our leader much like kids view the days when the substitute teacher comes to class............

The reviews of Obama's performance have been disappointing. He has seemed uncomfortable in the role of leading other nations, and often seems to suggest there is nothing special about America's role in the world. The global community was puzzled over the pictures of Obama bowing to some of the world's leaders and surprised by his gratuitous criticisms of and apologies for America's foreign policy under the previous administration of George W. Bush. One Middle East authority, Fouad Ajami, pointed out that Obama seems unaware that it is bad form and even a great moral lapse to speak ill of one's own tribe while in the lands of others.

Even in Britain, for decades our closest ally, the talk in the press—supported by polls—is about the end of the "special relationship" with America. French President Nicolas Sarkozy openly criticized Obama for months, including a direct attack on his policies at the United Nations. Sarkozy cited the need to recognize the real world, not the virtual world, a clear reference to Obama's speech on nuclear weapons. When the French president is seen as tougher than the American president, you have to know that something is awry. Vladimir Putin of Russia has publicly scorned a number of Obama's visions. Relations with the Chinese leadership

got off to a bad start with the president's poorly-organized visit to China, where his hosts treated him disdainfully and prevented him from speaking to a national television audience of the Chinese people. The Chinese behavior was unprecedented when compared to visits by other U.S. presidents.

Now this opinion doesn't come from some run of the mill republican but Mort Zuckerman, on Obama supporter.

From the Motor City's public schools where playing with yourself in front of others rules the day................

One day after facing accusations of fondling himself, Detroit Public Schools President Otis Mathis wrote a letter to colleagues today blaming "ongoing health problems" for his "poor judgment."

The letter, which attempted to rescind his resignation he submitted Thursday, doesn't explicitly address accusations from Superintendent Teresa Gueyser that he touched himself during a private meeting.

But Mathis acknowledged that he "made inappropriate actions toward a professional employee of the board" and promises to remove himself from personnel decisions involving her.

"I am following up with my doctors because I need to pursue treatment, and because I want to make sure that what happened doesn't ever happen again," Mathis said. "However, I do not need to resign in order to take care of my health."

The letter to colleagues came the same day board Vice President Anthony Adams today released a two-page letter from Gueyser accusing Mathis of fondling himself during a meeting this week. She called it his "usual habit" during one-on-one meetings. She said she tries to ignore it.

"On many occasions, I have asked him not to touch himself," she wrote in the letter dated Wednesday.

Mathis attended the board's 5 p.m. meeting today, but sat in the front row of the audience. His name plate was already removed from the board table. Adams said the board won't comment further on the controversy and is moving forward as if "he is no longer a board member."

Board member Reverend David Murray called the allegations "a terrible thing" but said he doesn't believe the 55-year-old Mathis should quit.

"It happens to a lot of young men. They engage in behavior they feel is harmless and it's offensive to certain people," Murray said. "... It could be deemed offensive, but some women are more sensitive to those types of things than others."

If this were his only sin, it would be one thing. But this guy is an utter basket case. The blogprof details this illiterate d-bag's history.

I have a client who was recently contracted by a county in Southwest Ohio to do painting work for the county. ( I won't name the county for fear of retaliation to my client).

Here's a question

If you needed painting work done to your home, what do you think an appropriate hourly wage would be for someone in the profession?

a) Minimum wage?

b) $10.00/hour?

c) $15.00/hour?

d) $20.00/hour?

e) $25.00/hour?

The reason that I ask is this county's contract requires the company to pay a "prevailing wage" or basically what would a union worker with no skills would make on the job.

In this case, the prevailing wage is $33.72/hour. That works out to $67,440 a year.

Now ask yourself these questions. Do you make that much money? Would you pay that much money for someone to do that work?

Why am I a tea party supporter? Because this is the type of burden we keep heaping on the backs of taxpayer's who don't make near that kind of money.

Doesn't it strike you as somewhat insane to be paying people almost 3 times what you would pay them as a private individual? And yet this is business as usual in the state of Ohio. So when the topic of tax increases come up just remember Joe $33.72 an hour and tell me again how government is so efficient with our money.

If you have any particular sites (blogs and/or news sites) you find interesting, please let me know. In addition, I would appreciate any feedback on the posts, things you like or dislike.

I continue to appreciate the links people send me. I don't always put them on the blog because 1) many times I'll sit the links to the side until I can read them 2) by the time I read them I find that they are already covered by other blogs and/or site and 3) Sometimes I can't figure out a theme to get them on.

None the less, I still appreciate the links because it provides me with ideas for the future.

Also, I've never asked anyone to pass my blog along or to become a "follower" on the side. When I started this blog, I kind of felt like if it were something worthwhile it would spread organically.

However, I am making a request that if you like the blog and you've been on multiple times, please sign on as a follower. I think the only negative thing that could happen is that you might be identified by Janet Napolitano as a member of a hate group.

Even better..... turn your politically interested friends to the site via facebook and twitter. (Actually, if someone could tell me how to get this on my facebook page, I would appreciate it.)

During the dog days of summer, I start to wonder if this thing is even worth it. I'll never hit you up for a bleg so any non monetary thing you can think of to support the blog would be greatly appreciated.

I am always open to the prospect of other posters to the blog. If you want to give blogging a try, let me know and we'll work out the details.

As always, I thank readers Jeremy, Shakes, Becky, Mark, Randall, Tim, Bernie and others for the contributions. I also want to thank Midas for being MIA. That limits the Coldplay and 311 crap he posts to the blog.

The Obamunist's Keystone Cops act is really starting to show through.........

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal looks on as barges loaded with vacuums to clean oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill depart a marina in Empire, Louisiana June 17, 2010. (REUTERS/Lee Celano)

Against Governor Jindal’s wishes the federal government blocked oil-sucking barges today because they needed to confirm that there were fire extinguishers and life vests on board and were having trouble contacting the owners.ABC News reported:

Eight days ago, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal ordered barges to begin vacuuming crude oil out of his state’s oil-soaked waters. Today, against the governor’s wishes, those barges sat idle, even as more oil flowed toward the Louisiana shore.

“It’s the most frustrating thing,” the Republican governor said today in Buras, La. “Literally, yesterday morning we found out that they were halting all of these barges.”

Sixteen barges sat stationary today, although they were sucking up thousands of gallons of BP’s oil as recently as Tuesday. Workers in hazmat suits and gas masks pumped the oil out of the Louisiana waters and into steel tanks. It was a homegrown idea that seemed to be effective at collecting the thick gunk.

“These barges work. You’ve seen them work. You’ve seen them suck oil out of the water,” said Jindal.

So why stop now?

“The Coast Guard came and shut them down,” Jindal said. “You got men on the barges in the oil, and they have been told by the Coast Guard, ‘Cease and desist. Stop sucking up that oil.’”

A Coast Guard representative told ABC News today that it shares the same goal as the governor.

“We are all in this together. The enemy is the oil,” said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Dan Lauer.

But the Coast Guard ordered the stoppage because of reasons that Jindal found frustrating. The Coast Guard needed to confirm that there were fire extinguishers and life vests on board, and then it had trouble contacting the people who built the barges.

Unbelievable.

Great job Brownie!

It's now day 60. We're still waiting for Obama to waive the Jones act so foreign ships can work in the gulf.

Why can't junior get a job? Try getting a few skills employers can use..............

First up is Jackie Mroz, 22, of Oregon City: “She put everything she had into her studies at the University of Oregon, graduating in 2009 with degrees in international studies and sociology and a double minor in nonprofit administration and African studies. She studied abroad in Senegal, took challenging courses, earned a 3.8 grade point average and raced through college in three years.”

I am no expert, but I cannot see much of a market for sociology or knowing how to run a business that doesn’t make money.

Next up is “John Yeier, 24, who graduated from the Oregon Institute of Technology in Klamath Falls on Saturday. He’s the sole member of his class with a degree in embedded engineering, which integrates computer software and hardware in cell phones, cars and other machines. He will work on small plane navigation system software for Garmin AT in Salem.”

Hmm. Studied engineering. He has a job waiting for him.

Next up is “Audra Armen-Van Horn, 23, Portland, worked for Victoria’s Secret while earning her psychology degree from the University of Oregon. Now, a year after graduating in 2009 and applying for more than 100 jobs, she’s still working part time for the store while hoping to get a job with the American Cancer Society.”

A psychology degree without a psychologist’s license is not worth much.

What's hilarious is how many of these people claim to be smart yet fail to understand the concept of delivering skills to an employer. No doubt future democrats.

A nonprofit group says that up to 90 percent of young Philadelphians are ineligible for military service because of criminal records, obesity or lack of education.

Pennsylvania-based Mission: Readiness released its report Monday. It says 1 million Pennsylvanians are ineligible for the same reasons.

Mission: Readiness is made up of more than 150 retired generals and admirals. The group wants state and federal funding for pre-kindergarten programs that it says give children a solid foundation for academic and personal success.

The taxpayer cost of bailing out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could be as high as $1 trillion. Yet Democrats still refuse to reform the toxic twins, making reform meaningless.

Already their $160 billion government rescue has surpassed the amount spent on AIG, Citigroup and other poster boys of the financial crisis, making their liability "the mother of all bailouts," as one analyst put it.

The failed Washington-based mortgage giants were more exposed to subprime and other junk home loans than any of Washington's favorite Wall Street whipping boys. And they commanded a much larger share of the mortgage market. Together they owned or guaranteed more than half the mortgages and mortgage-backed securities when they collapsed in 2008.

Thanks to their politically mandated lending goals, congressionally chartered Fannie and Freddie were at the heart of the subprime scandal. We can't think of two companies more deserving of overhaul. Only, Congress doesn't even attempt to rein them in. Fannie and Freddie are conspicuously absent from the financial reform bills House and Senate Democrats are cobbling together.

Let's face it. If Jamie Gorelick and Franklin Raines can loot a few million from the place, the democrats aren't going to touch it.

Unsurprisingly, given his enthusiasm for corporatism at home, Obama is an unqualified supporter of the EU. “In my view there’s no Old Europe or New Europe,” he announced at his very first overseas summit, silkily repudiating Donald Rumsfelt’s distinction. “There is a united Europe. I believe in a strong Europe, and a strong European Union, and my administration is committed to doing everything we can to support you.”

His fondness for the EU is matched by his disdain for the United Kingdom. It’s not the diplomatic snubs that bother me: the dissing of Gordon Brown, the insulting gifts, the sending back of Winston Churchill’s bust. It’s not even the faux-anger towards the company he insists on calling “British” Petroleum. (No such firm has existed since the merger of BP and Amoco nine years ago. Thirty-nine per cent of BP shares are American-owned, and 40 per cent British-owned. The stricken rig in the Gulf is owned by Transocean, and the drilling was carried out by Halliburton, yet Obama isn’t demanding compensation from either of these American corporations.)

All these things are minor irritants compared to the way the Obama administration is backing Peronist Argentina’s claim to the Falkland Islands – or, as Obama’s people call them, “the Malvinas”. British troops were the only sizeable contingent to support the US in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have fought alongside America in most of the conflicts of the past hundred years. Yet, when the chips are down, Obama lines up with Hugo Chávez and Daniel Ortega against us.

Not that we should feel singled out. The Obama administration has scorned America’s other established friends. It has betrayed Poland and the Czech Republic, whose Atlanticist governments had agreed to accept the American missile defence system at immense political cost, only to find the project cancelled. It has alienated Israel and India. It has even managed to fall out with Canada over its “Buy American” rules and its decision to drill in disputed Arctic waters. Never has there been a worse time to be a US ally.

No one denies that Obama was dealt a rotten economic hand; but he has played it ineptly. His policies are serving to make his country poorer, less free and less respected. And that is a problem for all of us .

Monday, June 14, 2010

Here’s something I didn’t know, from financial blogger Bruce Krasting (via John Ellis): Social Security tax receipts for the first half of 2010: $346.9 billion; Social Security benefits payments for the same period: $347.3 billion. Before this year, projections have always been that Social Security wouldn’t cross that line into negative cash flow for five years or so. Now it’s a reality. Congress has been spending Social Security’s positive cash flow for years. Now there’s no positive cash flow to spend.

To see how the negative trend has accelerated, consider the same figures for the first half of 2009: Social Security tax receipts were $366.0 billion and Social Security benefits payments were $334.3 billion. A positive cash flow of $31.7 billion has disappeared in the course of just 12 months. Scary.

The good news is that I'm thinking that these numbers are reflective of people taking early retirement instead of staying in the job market which is probably why unemployment isn't 13% right now.

Every World Cup, it arrives like clockwork. As sure as the ultimate soccer spectacle brings guaranteed adrenaline and agony to fans across the United States, it also drives the right-wing noise machine utterly insane.

It's also the time when all these "progressive" soccer geeks won't shut up about soccer being so wonderful because it's so European, Latin, African etc. (hint.... anything non-American.) It's all part of the "If it's American, it must be something big, loud, corporate and evil" or "if it's American, bad ........ Not American, goooood".

Look dude, it's not the right wing noise machine doing all the squawking it's those damn vuvuzelas buzzing the entire game.

Seriously, in what sport do you need to manufacture that much noise in the crowd. Over the weekend, my honey do list was repeatedly interrupted as part of recurring thunderstorms, so I flopped my butt on the couch to catch me a little of the South Korea/Greece game and the US/England match.

The incessant noise during the game was irritating to say the least. If the games are so exciting, why the need to pump in sound? So you won't hear all the snoring?

Look, I'm not a soccer hater. I'm sure if I were exposed to the sport as a kid, I probably would have more appreciation for the sport. But I can't stand the douche bags that insist that I'm less evolved because I would rather watch lacrosse, auto racing, curling, or, frankly, a baseball game.

What I find most interesting about this article is that it was not provided to NPR via Sports Illustrated or ESPN but The Nation, a liberal rag. But of course like all things NPR, they'd have you believe that both sides are covered which is why they have NRO and The New Republic as other content contributors.

That's a two against one, which happens to be the score to one totally kick ass soccer game. But in the NPR world it's called equal time. Kind of like having a luke warm conservative like David Brooks (or David Gergen) against a fire breathing liberal like Mark Shields.

Regardless, I'll probably watch the remaining US games because I love to watch competition, true reality programming. Given that the sports world is a little slow right now, I can view that in front of collegiate softball. Unfortunately, d-bags like Dave Zirn will keep telling me how we need to be more like Europe well after the World Cup is over.

Local officials acknowledge that a giant sewage-cooking machine in west suburban Stickney is a waste of money, but they have decided to move ahead anyway with a project that could cost Chicago and Cook County taxpayers $217 million.

Once billed as an innovative way to turn the region's sewage sludge into fertilizer, the project is a decade behind schedule.

The Tribune first reported in May 2009 that the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District had concluded that the 60-foot-tall sludge ovens aren't needed. After several attempts to block it, district staff recently determined they couldn't escape the contract and its steep price tag, which keeps growing as consultant fees and other costs pile up.

"You have to remember this contract was signed a decade ago," said Richard Lanyon, the district's general superintendent, who inherited the troubled project when he took office. "If we were confronted with the same situation today, we would say we don't need it. But we have a contract, and we have to live with it."

The district's elected commissioners are expected to grant final approval early next month.

The sludge cooker, nicknamed the "Black Box" even though its corrugated steel walls are white, was unveiled a decade ago when district officials feared they were running out of disposal options. Turning a quarter of the region's sludge into tiny pellets, they said, would make the dried human and industrial waste more marketable to sell as fertilizer to farmers or soil conditioner to park districts.

But the project has been plagued with problems and cost overruns since commissioners awarded the lucrative contract to a company partly owned by the district's former superintendent, Bart Lynam, raising questions about Chicago-style cronyism and insider politics.

John Lapoint III, the president of Packgen, told me Friday that a BP inspector visited his plant two weeks before, and was with him that day, and he didn’t understand why the holdup, given the need for boom.

“We have the capacity to manufacture 42,000 feet of boom per day,” Lapoint told me. “I figured they would need thousands of miles of boom given the magnitude of what’s going on in the Gulf.” He said he has enough raw materials to make half a million feet of boom.

Over the weekend, Capt. Ron LaBrec from Coast Guard Public Affairs told me that according to a BP quality control inspector the PackGen boom did not pass an initial quality control test.

“Boom is subjected to great wear and tear when placed in the water and must be frequently tended,” LaBrec told me. “In order to retain its effectiveness boom must be of high quality. Once Packgen's boom passes inspection, the company can be considered as a source for supplying boom.”

LaBrec noted that in the meantime, “suitable boom is being identified and obtained quickly” with 459,000 feet of boom stored in the region in addition to the 2.24 million feet deployed.

So what was wrong with the PackGen boom?

“There were concerns with material and end connectors,” LaBrec said. “BP has inspectors who visit facilities and regularly test boom. In addition to testing boom from new suppliers, boom from existing manufacturers is also tested/inspected. The Coast Guard also inspects boom that we purchase from suppliers. It is important because poorly designed boom may not work as intended.”

Sunday, June 13, 2010

When Barack Obama finally piped up last year about the massive protests following the rigged June 12 presidential election in Iran, he quoted Martin Luther King Jr.: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” An eloquent line, but, as Obama used it, grossly misplaced.

King, when he talked about an arc of history, was not sitting around waiting for that arc to bend. He was fully committed to a great struggle for equality, and urging his followers to keep going. Obama, when he brought up the long arc, was at pains to tell the world he had no interest in getting involved with the protesters who were dying in the streets of Iran. He described their calls for freedom, and the brutal response of the Iranian regime, as “not something that has to do with the outside world.” Obama contented himself with “bearing witness” – or at least tuning in on TV — while he waited for the demonstrations to simmer down, so he could resume extending his hand to the mullahs. That was the context in which he brought up “the arc of the moral universe,” assuring us all that he and the “international community” believed the arc would bend “toward justice.”

It was a strange choice of phrase from the president who rode to office on slogans not about any long arcs of anything, but “this is our moment,” “now is our time.” Apparently that was fine for things like 2,000 pages of ObamaCare legislation. But in Obama’s worldview, when Iranians rose up to challenge the Tehran regime that has bedeviled America since the days of Jimmy Carter, it was not their moment, and not their time.

C'mon Claudia, shit like action, gets in the way of talking Utopian type visions. It's why beer summits are in the Obama vernacular but supporting democracy across the world is just a downer.

Once again, Mark Steyn puts his finger directly on the pulse of Obama's fatal character flaw.......

This Mr. Obama did brilliantly. A man who speaks fewer languages than the famously moronic George W. Bush, he has nevertheless grasped the essential lingo of the European transnationalist: Continental leaders strike attitudes rather than effect action - which is, frankly, beneath them. One thinks of the insistence a few years ago by Louis Michel, the then-Belgian foreign minister, that the so-called European Rapid Reaction Force "must declare itself operational without such a declaration being based on any true capability." As even The Washington Post drily remarked, "Apparently in Europe this works."

Apparently. Thus, Barack Obama: He declared himself operational without such a declaration being based on any true capability. But, if it works for the EU, why not America? Like many of his background here and there, Mr. Obama is engaged mostly by abstractions and generalities. Indeed, he is the very model of a modern major generalist. He has grand plans for "the environment" - all of it, wherever it may be. Why should the great eco-Gulliver be ensnared by some Lilliputian oil spill lapping 'round his boots? He flew into Cairo to give one of the most historically historic speeches in history to the Muslim world. Why should such a colossus lower his visionary gaze to contemplate some no-account nickel-'n'-dime racket like the Iranian nuclear program? With one stroke of his pen, he has transformed the health care of 300 million people. But I suppose if there's some killer flu epidemic or a cholera outbreak in New Mexico, you losers will be whining at Mr. Obama to do something about that, too.

In recent months, a lot of Americans have said to me that they had no idea the new president would feel so "weird." But, in fact, he's not weird. True, he's not, even in Democrat terms, a political figure - as, say, Bill Clinton or Joe Biden are. Instead, he's the product of the broader culture: There are millions of people like Mr. Obama, the eternal students of a vast lethargic, transnational campus for whom global compassion and the multicultural pose are merely the modish gloss on a cult of radical, grandiose narcissism. As someone once said, "We are the ones we've been waiting for." When you've spent that long waiting in line for yourself, it's bound to be a disappointment.